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[khearn]

If you have safe access to the tower, place a lever on /R with no purpose, to ensure someone's always there.

EDIT: Pumps also work like military orders.  People will just about die of thirst while on a pump, rather than leave it unmanned.  A bit more room, but a lot more reliable watcher.

You might as well do something useful with that lever, like connecting it to a menacing spike in your main hallway to give your folks some dodging practice as they go about their day's work.

   Keith

[Girlinhat]

Or link it to spikes around the tower itself.  Spots ambushes AND perforates them!

Still, the entire point of this thread was to make small, simple, easy early warning towers.  We're moved this towards large structures in their own right.

[Triaxx2]

Can a caged animal observe? If not, can a mechanically attached cage be moved? If the answer to either is yes, having a locking floor hatch, and moving a caged critter in is useful. Then you need only a one level tower, with a central access stair, and a roof.

It can be built in a spiderweb pattern around the map, extending from your fort, or in a line to defend a specific direction.

Alternately, if you're interested, you can build an enclosed skyway, and have the cages set on floor bars linked to a lever, to drop the cage one z-level into the enclosure. The animal has no way back out, but isn't dead and can't leave. If you mistakenly use a flier, a forbidden door can keep it where it's supposed to be.

[Urist Da Vinci]

Can a caged animal observe? If not, can a mechanically attached cage be moved?

No. No.

[Triaxx2]

Double nuts. How about if the floor vanishes from beneath the cage?

[Girlinhat]

Caged animals don't follow most of the rules of free animals, such as drowning or burning in magma.  So no, doesn't work.

[arkhometha]

Caged animals don't follow most of the rules of free animals, such as drowning or burning in magma.  So no, doesn't work.

They don't drown, yes, but they burn.

Wiki:
Cages and Fluids

A cage will protect a creature inside it from drowning, so if you want to drown a creature in a cage, you must open it remotely, as explained in the above section (as a corollary, if your fortress is drowning in water, you can cage your dwarves and rescue them later). However, built cages will not protect caged creatures from magma, making this a somewhat faster option, as it doesn't require linking each cage to a lever. Cages which are not magma-safe will be degraded and/or destroyed by this process, and cages which are made of flammable materials (such as wood) may be set on fire.

[Uristocrat]

Two questions:

1)  Can creatures see through glass block floors/walls & does it help any to construct this from green glass?

2)  Wouldn't it help to build funnels nearby?  E.G. by removing all nearby ramps, or building walls, so that invaders were more likely to path below your watchtowers?

[Girlinhat]

1) No, walls are walls, regardless of material.

2) Yes, any easy way to get enemies to path by the tower will help.  Removing ramps from nearby hills and placing the tower at the only available ramp is very good.

[Uristocrat]

1) No, walls are walls, regardless of material.

That's kind of sad, actually, but understandable I guess.

[arkhometha]

1) No, walls are walls, regardless of material.

That's kind of sad, actually, but understandable I guess.

I know how you feel. Wouldn't be great to build a clear glass floor where below it was a pit were goblins, elfs and creatures are thrown, fighting for their lives, just for the winner be rewarded with magma, while your dwarfs just chat about the day and the booze, holdings parties at the statues, occasionally looking for below to get amused?

[Hans Lemurson]

...
Still, the entire point of this thread was to make small, simple, easy early warning towers.  We're moved this towards large structures in their own right.

A very good point.  This is a minimal-setup early-warning-system which only requires maintenance every decade.  There is virtue in simplicity.

[Girlinhat]

You can -very- easily embark with 4 bags of sand and a dozen logs, which is pretty much all you need for construction.  The ease of this design is such that any early fort can set up multiple warning towers before even the first babysnatcher!

[arkhometha]

You can -very- easily embark with 4 bags of sand and a dozen logs, which is pretty much all you need for construction.  The ease of this design is such that any early fort can set up multiple warning towers before even the first babysnatcher!

I think it have a good long standing benefit too. More, actually, as I usually lose dwarfs to ambushes.

[Starver]

My long-standing method is less simple than the one shown, but I thought I'd share anyway, as it has things in common with some of the 'improvements' suggested.

Code: (Side-view) [Select]

  __^__
  O_X_O   
  H_X_H
_  OXO  _
#\_#X#_/#
####X####
# = Undug stone/earth.
_ = Surface and/or floor
\ and / = ramps
O = Built walls
H = Fortifications
    (to be replaced in this instance with Windows, and maybe some provision for walls at the corners,
     but in this design there's the stairwell supporting the 'roof' so corners can also be unsupporting,
     noting that during construction you need a temporary floor to construct the corner)
X = Stairs
^ = You can cap with a hatch, here, although I usually have some temporary steps and scaffolding,
     this gives outside access to allow complete roofing-over without leaving a worrisome opening.

Code: (Horizontal slices) [Select]

######### ######### ,.,.,.,.,
######### #^^^^^^^# .VVVVVVV.
######### #^.,.,.^# ,V     V,   HHHHH     OOOOO     +++++
######### #^,###,^# .V OOO V.   H+++H     O+++O     +++++
####X#### #^.#X#.^# ,V OXO V,   H+X+H     O+>+O     +++++
######### #^,###,^# .V OOO V.   H+++H     O+++O     +++++
######### #^.,.,.^# ,V     V,   HHHHH     OOOOO     +++++
######### #^^^^^^^# .VVVVVVV.
######### ######### ,.,.,.,.,


Code: (Stylised overhead) [Select]

.........
.\|||||/.
.-+++++-.
.-+++++-.
.-+++++-.
.-+++++-.
.-+++++-.
./|||||\.
.........

That design comes from the wish to make a pillbox-style observation tower for archers/etc that couldn't be got at by your standard building-destroyers, and goes back at least to 40D, when channelling wouldn't automatically create up-ramps on Z-1.  The other floor (or more!) of the tower could be used as bolt storage, food and drink repositary, barrackroom, or just done away with.

I've previously also made designs with ground-level "extended", but still sufficiently ditch-protected fortifications as artillery (catapult) emplacements, with stone storage on the extra floor or straight from the mine-workings at Z-2, guarding the approach-road to the main entrance.  I've also extended the staircase up and out into 'skywalks' that connect the top of various towers as well, to aid rapid deployment of archers above and below.  (This was also well before the current breed of flight-mounted enemies, when golden eagles were the only real flying menace most of the time.)

When planning such pillboxes/watchtowers, I'd generally dig the first into-ground stairwell, then build the above-ground stairwell, then the walls around it (careful not to seal anyone in), then dig the ditch.  Then, at leisure, I could link this stairway below-ground without needing to to be outside (on the ground, at least) for all future construction efforts.  (Inclusive of getting onto the roof from the side...  I'd build out from the incomplete upper-floor walls, stairs up, finish the roof, then deconstruct.  If I felt safe, I'd get someone out in the wilds to retrieve the deconstructed materials from the ground.)

A more modern version that I've used, on occasion, includes a wet (could have been magmaminous) moat, but also a dry one to deal with amphibious enemies who don't mind getting wet:

Code: (Wet outer moat, cross-section) [Select]

_  _  OXO  _  _
#~~#\_#X#_/#~~#
#######X#######

I don't actually believe that helps, much, but I find it aesthetically pleasing.